


Reconnaissance

by Lady_Harken



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 05:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Harken/pseuds/Lady_Harken
Summary: While the Grandcypher's crew is off stocking their supplies, Cain ends up picking a job on the side.





	Reconnaissance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tormalyne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tormalyne/gifts).



Organizing large scale expeditions took a while, and thus the Grandcypher's crew had taken the opportunity to restock their supplies - or as it turned out, to pick a couple of random jobs on the side. This captain sure was the do-gooder type; honest to a fault and probably even too nice, but all in all, it was rather endearing - and quite interesting too, Cain thought. If only all skyfarers were like this, the skies would probably be a lot more peaceful.

A delivery job and an escort mission; nothing too out of ordinary, but enough to make most of the crew busy for the day. What a lucky captain this one was, with such great companions who also shared the passion for helping people. Which was exactly why Cain figured that him taking another mission would be fine with the captain.

He had originally planned to just wait till everyone else was done and take it easy for the rest of the day, but hearing there was possibly a dangerous monster roaming around, he had decided to make himself useful. Besides, this was Idelva territory, and the information he had gotten on the case was somewhat troubling.

Apparently, the regular Idelva guard patrols hadn't been around as much lately. It was, regrettably, more than likely due to the recent issues with Rhem, but that made it double the reason for Cain himself to look into the matter. If regular patrols couldn't make it, someone else would have to take care of this issue.

Leona was going to be pretty mad, that was for sure, seeing she had agreed to go with the captain as a guide. So Cain had _kind of_ promised to stay in the village, but then again there was little he could do to not get her on his case. This threat was too serious to be ignored, especially since the army was responsible for the lack of security. He made a mental note to look into the patrol issue when returning to the capital, but for now, this 'large monster threatening anyone who enters the mountain area' needed to be checked out.

At least Leona wouldn’t get to complain about him running off alone, since that definitely wasn't happening, he thought with a hint of a smirk as he glanced over his shoulder at Reinhardtzar following him a few steps behind. The Draph was under his command, and while he hadn't ordered him to join the mission, he hadn't exactly ordered him to stay behind either.

"The left path," Reinhardtzar stated, and Cain shrugged. He did have a crude map given to him by the villagers, but it seemed Reinhardtzar had a better idea of the mission objective area than he had thought.

Left path led higher up on the mountain, so it was kind of an obvious choice. "Why did you join me, anyway?" Cain asked with the usual grin on his face. "Can't leave me alone anymore after we've spent so much time together?"

There was something in Reinhardtzar's glare; whether he was just unimpressed or plain rolling his eyes, Cain didn't unfortunately see him closely enough to be certain which it was. "I know the area somewhat from some old patrol missions," Reinhardtzar replied. "This island used to be part of Torhid border area, and my unit visited a few times. Besides, we can't let you go off on your own and get lost in the mountains, now can we?"

Cain snapped his fingers. "To think a Draph of your size is more afraid of Leona than some monsters in the mountains," he said cheerfully. "Not that I have much to say to that. She's going to be angry, but what was I supposed to do, sit there and wait till the evening till everyone comes back then organize a reconnaissance party? This needs to be checked out while there's still daylight."

"I'd comment on your eagerness to run off on your own, but that's a waste of time. So I know the area, somewhat," Reinhardtzar pointed out. "Thought it appears you know more about the subject in hand. Care to share?"

Having backup did make Cain feel a bit better about the mission, and he shrugged as they continued climbing up the path. "Let's see. From what I managed to find out, somewhere here should be residing a large beast, capable of ripping apart smaller monsters and animals," he recalled. "Big, large wings, sharp claws. Some eyewitness reports even claimed it was a dragon."

"A dragon? That's kind of hard to believe," Reinhardtzar said. "Eyewitness reports on cases like this tend to exaggerate, though."

"The large wings and sharp claws were consistent, at least," Cain mused. "The rest, not so much. Color and appearance in general highly varied by story. Either way, it hasn't killed anyone yet, but someone needs to look into this before things get worse." He stopped and looked at the path ahead, tilting his head. "Though these paths make me wonder why the locals would want to come here in the first place," he noted as he studied the narrow path on the side of the cliff ahead of them.

Reinhardtzar didn't look any more impressed, but he simply reached to the side of the cliff for support as they continued forward. "Gemstones," he said. "There's some cave up there where you can occasionally find crystal gems with magical qualities. Nice extra income source in a small village like this, and I guess the locals consider the risk worth it." 

Gems? Cain suddenly recalled seeing some for sale back in the village. "Mmm. They shouldn't risk their lives for something like that," he said with a more serious tone. "This path seriously isn't-" He slipped right at that moment and clung to the side of the cliff, watching as the small rock that had rolled away from under his foot tumbled down the mountainside. "As I was saying," he added with a grin, only realizing Reinhardtzar's hand was on his shoulder as the man withdrew it. Had he reached out to grab him and stop him from falling? "The path is too dangerous."

"You can't tell them how to live their lives, whether you agree with it or not," Reinhardtzar said. "If you want to keep them away from the mountain, you could just leave the monster here be."

The path widened a little, and Cain sighed in relief. "Could work. Until they hire skyfarers to do this instead, or until the monster actually attacks and kills someone." He stopped for a moment to study the surroundings and the route forward. The path led to the side of a narrow ravine between two steep cliffs; looking down, there was a several hundred meter drop and a river somewhere far below. The path itself appeared man-made, carved from the face of the cliff with skill - or magic, more than likely. "Sure hope we don't have to fight anything in this kind of space."

There were parts in the path that had rock ceiling so low that Reinhardtzar had to lean down to get under the bits. "Highly doubt any monsters would want to stick themselves here," he pointed out. "Not at least if the monster is as big as the villagers claim."

"Definitely not. Not much use for wings in places like this. Above here, though, more than likely," Cain pondered. There were rocky stairs in front of them, leading up the side of the ravine, and they found themselves climbing for a good while. "Kind of makes me suspect the monster might've made its nest out of this gemstone cave and that's why the villagers are so eager to get rid of it. Still, we can't ignore this, lest they send some well-meaning skyfarers up here to get themselves killed."

The stairs took them to an upper area, with a wooden bridge leading over the ravine to a rocky area on the other side. "Somewhere here, perhaps?" Cain wondered as they crossed the bridge. It creaked under their feet but seemed sturdy enough, and they made it across safely. The path continued through the rocky area, but before they made it too far, Cain stopped, frowning. "Hmm? Did you hear that? Like something sharp scratching against rock..."

Before Reinhardtzar had the chance to reply, the screeching sound came closer, and a large bird head stuck at them from behind the rocks. The creature made another sound and stepped closer, appearing menacing.

"A griffin," Reinhardtzar stated, studying the creature. "Doesn't look like the local type. Might've migrated from another skydom, or at least from some far-off island. Either way, doesn't particularly look like it likes having us around," he added, glancing behind them. "And this really isn't a very good place for a fight. The footing is bad, and with the ravine behind us, we're at a disadvantage."

The beast lunged at them at that very moment, and Cain drew his sword to deflect the creature's claws. "Doesn't also look like it's giving us much choice on that," he exclaimed. "I'll try keeping its attention, you attack?" He suggested for a quick strategy while blocking another swipe from the sharp claws.

There was no way of retreating, especially when their opponent could fly. The griffin jumped towards them again, spreading its wings, and Cain hastily glanced around. Forward was blocked, and the wooden bridge behind them was too dangerous. They could've attempted to make it back to the stairs and try to use the cliffs for cover, though there was no way they could fight there, and the path back down was too narrow for a quick retreat.

He quickly dodged out of the way of another attack, slashing at the griffin as it went. His sword clipped through the monster's wing feathers, not enough to stop it from flying but enough to draw its attention and attempt another hit. Reinhardtzar took advantage of the opening and landed a powerful punch on its rear leg, which just served to enrage the monster even more, though, and it took off higher to the air, circling around and obviously planning to dive at them.

There wasn’t much they could do to get out of the way, Cain had to admit, gritting his teeth. Forward was no go, back to the bridge even less with their opponent in the air. To the sides, there were more cliffs - and a narrow crevice cutting into the rock. If it actually was a way through, there was no way to tell, but there weren't exactly too many other options, especially with the griffin coming at them right then, beak open and sharp claws ready.

"To the right!" Cain yelled, practically pushing Reinhardtzar off balance and towards the opening in the cliff. They barely dodged out of the way of the attack, with Reinhardtzar hitting his shoulder against the side of the cliff then tumbling sideways down into the crevice then _down_ the crevice, as it turned out there wasn't ground right behind the thing.

Cain felt himself falling, but thankfully before he had time to start regretting his decision, he found himself still very much there. They hadn't fallen down into the ravine or anything; rather, he was half-lying on top of something very familiar, and the griffin above them clawed at them and made angry sounds. It couldn't fit itself fully through the opening, though.

"Ghhh..." Reinhardtzar under him shifted, gritting his teeth. "Would you... move?"

"Mmm? Oh," Cain composed himself and took a deep breath, quickly assessing their predicament. There was solid ground, in the end, though they had fallen down a couple of meters and the crevice was actually rather small. Reinhardtzar was too tall to actually lie down properly, and he was half bent over, his shoulders pressed against the cliff wall, while Cain had ended up on top of him, pretty much straddling him. "My, is this your sword or are you just happy to have me this close?"

Given the situation, Reinhardtzar didn't seem to find the joke very funny, not that he ever really did. "Well I'm glad you're in good enough condition for jokes," he hissed. "Too bad it's _your own_ damn sword and if you don't move it soon..." Right at that moment the griffin stuck its claw as far in as it could, almost reaching them, but only almost.

It was indeed his sword, and as Cain glanced down, he realized it was dangerously close to cutting into Reinhardtzar's pants. He grinned, embarrassed. "Well, so it is. On that note..." He shifted a little and carefully picked up the blade, sheathing it. "Sorry about that. Best keep this sword away from there. I've got use for _that_ sword of yours you see- Whoa!"

He ducked down as the griffin above them now attempted to stick its head down into the crevice, without much success, but it snapped its beak at Cain either way. It didn’t have exactly enough reach, but it still made Cain flatten himself against Reinhardtzar, pressing his face against the Draph's neck.

"While I don't mind you getting cuddly, not exactly the time and place for this," Reinhardtzar cynically pointed out with a sigh. The griffin made frustrated sounds and pulled away, circling around and making noise outside the crevice. "Seems it can't get us, but we're stuck here for now. Nice save, but now what's the plan, oh great general?"

Cain took a deep breath and shuffled around, managing to get off Reinhardtzar. He got on his feet but kept his head down in case. "I'll have to regretfully admit I didn't plan that far. Priority was to get out of the unfavorable battle up there. Now then, let's see..." He studied the surroundings to see how much space they had. Their current location was rather cramped, but the crevice seemed to continue deeper. "Perhaps we see where this goes?"

"You first," Reinhardtzar commented, doing his best to get to his feet. "Not because I want to feed you to monsters, mind you, but because you're smaller and have better chances of taking a look at what's forward."

"Oh, so you do worry about my safety? I'm quite delighted to hear that," Cain replied with a grin. "Well, then..." He glanced up, where the griffin was still making sounds and scratching the cliff surface around the crevice. "There's no going back up there right now, at least, so here's hoping there's another way out through here."

He advanced along the ground, quite relieved to find that there was enough space for both of them to get through. The crevice turned into a cave after a while, though there also seemed to be draft coming through from somewhere, which meant they were in luck and there was another exit somewhere.

"Hmm," Reinhardtzar studied the walls of the cave as they continued deeper. There was little light, but something seemed peculiar about the place. "Seems we hit the jackpot," he noted, tapping at a tiny crystalline formation on the cave wall. "Look at this."

There were several tiny crystals around; not big enough to be considered useful as gemstones, but this had to be the cave Reinhardtzar had mentioned. "Yep. Looks like we have our cave. Doesn't seem like this is the part the villagers visit," Cain noted, looking around. "It means there's another entrance somewhere, though. Let's go find it."

"And hope our four-legged angry bird friend isn't hanging around," Reinhardtzar said. "Not really interested in fighting in a cave, either, though the griffin would have disadvantage here. It wouldn't be able to move much in a place like this."

The griffin probably could've fit itself into this cave, Cain had to agree, but it definitely wasn't ideal for a battle. "I'd rather avoid fighting altogether if possible," he replied, studying the cave. There was definitely airflow coming from somewhere, and while the cave would've been pitch black dark otherwise, the tiny crystals illuminated the area. "Original mission was to find out what this monster was, then consider what actions to take. While I think the two of us could take that thing on... Hmm?"

His ears caught a faint sound some distance away, and he turned to look at Reinhardtzar, who nodded and followed him closely. The cave they were in connected to a larger area, and they stopped to evaluate the situation before proceeding. "I think this might be the main cave," Cain whispered, looking around the area. There were more tiny crystals on the walls, giving more of the mystical-looking light. "And now there would be plenty of space for a fight. Careful."

"You don't have to tell me that," Reinhardtzar replied. "The path over there seems to lead up, and probably outside," he noted, pointing at an exit.

They made it through the cave, finding that the exit led to another larger area. The exit was on lower ground, but there was an old wooden ladder leading up, and Cain climbed it, finding himself at the entrance to the cave with an opening connecting outside - and two small griffins sitting by the entrance, staring outside and making sounds.

"Whoops," Cain muttered, hiding behind a large rock and signaling Reinhardtzar to hide as well. The Draph got the idea at least and ducked behind the rock as well. "Looks like we have more company than we originally thought. Really don't want to fight here."

"Shh," Reinhardtzar cut in. "Let's wait and see what's going on. We're under the wind, so they shouldn't have noticed we're here."

Some minutes passed, and there was another louder sound, and the small griffins ran outside. Cain cautiously poked his head out of their hiding place, trying to see better, though from the sounds he could tell the large griffin from before was there.

They waited for another moment then Reinhardtzar gave him a look and a nod, and they both circled closer to the entrance to see what was going on. The griffins were making sounds - if it actually meant something, neither of them really understood monsters enough to tell, but something seemed to be happening.

The two smaller griffins jumped around excitedly, and the large one turned its head to look at the cave, the look in its eyes seeming almost intelligent. All three turned then and ran towards the ravine, spreading their wings and flying off, circling around and making it off toward the horizon. Cain and Reinhardtzar both stepped outside and watched them go, flying further away, and off the edge of the island.

"Hmmm. Well," Cain mused. "Guess our feathery friend decided that hanging around here was too much trouble?"

"So the earlier attacks were simply because it had offspring. Let's assume the small ones are strong enough to fly and they decided to migrate somewhere else," Reinhardtzar theorized. "Or it could be that they could come back and terrorize the villagers more. Right now, though, I think we got what we came here for. Wasn't the mission to find out what was going on here and what was attacking the villagers?"

Cain nodded with quite a wide grin on his face, considering how close things had been just some time ago. "Yep. If it turns out they didn't leave completely and the attacks continue, we can come back with a proper unit to take care of the issue." He looked at the way back, and his face turned more serious. "For now, though, we could also tell the villagers to avoid the mountain for a bit. Could find someone to take a look at that path and the bridge. Maybe make them slightly less life-threatening."

"At least you admit that you can't keep them away from here," Reinhardtzar noted. "Not with these." He held up a piece of rock then handed it to Cain.

"These, huh..." Cain took the crystallized piece of rock Reinhardtzar had picked from somewhere and studied it, only to find that it was chipped in half, and inside of it, it shined in curious rainbow colors. With something like this, it was no wonder the villagers would risk themselves to find these, not that he still approved of the idea. "What do you think, would Leona get off my case just for a bit if we give her this?"

"Sure hope so, but for now, worry about that later. First things first; we need to make it down the mountain before it gets dark," Reinhardtzar said. "Best get going if we want to make it. At this rate, might end up having to spend the night in the woods, and that's not exactly a preferable idea."

"Ohh, camping!" Cain commented, sounding all cheerful again. "You can keep me warm, surely."

Reinhardtzar gave him an unimpressed look. "Too bad I have the feeling your idea of 'keeping warm' involves activities that will get Leona to chop my head off clean no questions asked if she were to find us," he pointed out as they started walking across the area, with the path leading towards the wooden bridge. "We better be making it back. Not only there's Leona, but that captain would get worried and start looking for us."

Why making the captain of Grandcypher worry somehow felt worse than the idea of making Leona worry, Cain couldn't figure out, but he just shrugged and grinned. Perhaps he'd just really gotten fond of the young captain.

Now, keeping the activity Reinhardtzar had referred to somewhere where Leona wasn't going to walk in on them did give him another good reason to hasten his steps to make it back while the sun was still up.

**End.**

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh, good old Free Quests, the Captain likes nothing better than 50 crystals- I mean.
> 
> I was actually only in the early parts of the Nalhegrande arc when I included these two in my offer, but I already loved them from what I had seen, and what better excuse to finish the currently available main story than this. Not to mention there was the main story update while I was still writing this, which added Reinhardtzar as a playable character. Score!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Happy Holidays, and may you get many Rainbow Crystals!


End file.
